Building Champions to Save Lives: Reflections from the EECC Workshop in Dar es Salaam
From the 9th to the 11th of April 2025, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, played host to a powerful gathering: the EECC Champions Workshop. This wasn’t just another medical training – it was a bold step toward transforming the care of critically ill patients worldwide through Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC).
The three-day event brought together healthcare professionals from across Tanzania and beyond, uniting them in a common mission: to build capacity, deepen understanding, and develop strategies to implement EECC in their own hospitals, regions, and countries.
Tim Baker kicks off the EECC Champions Workshop
What is EECC – and why does it matter?
Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) is based on a simple but life-saving idea: that all critically ill patients, no matter where they are, deserve access to basic, effective care. This includes actions like monitoring vital signs, giving oxygen or IV fluids, and ensuring staff are trained to act quickly when a patient’s condition worsens. These are not expensive or high-tech interventions—but they can make the difference between life and death.
The EECC approach focuses on what’s essential. It promotes equity, fairness, and practicality in healthcare—especially in places where resources are limited but the need is great.
Day 1: Understanding the Core of EECC
The workshop began by grounding participants in the fundamentals of EECC. The aim was clear: by the end of the day, everyone should be able to explain what EECC is and what it includes.
Participants explored the 40 clinical processes and 66 hospital readiness requirements that make up the EECC package. These might sound like just numbers, but together, they represent a structured, clear approach to caring for the critically ill—whether they’re in a tertiary hospital or a rural clinic.
One of the highlights of the day was practicing ward-based scenarios, allowing participants to apply EECC principles in realistic situations. This hands-on approach reinforced that EECC is not abstract—it’s practical, doable, and urgently needed.
Day 2: Why EECC Is Needed – and How to Defend It
On the second day, the focus shifted from “what” to “why.” Why is EECC so vital in today’s healthcare landscape? Why does it sometimes go overlooked, and what can we do about it?
Through discussions, case comparisons, and reviewing research data, participants examined the harsh reality: in many hospitals, critically ill patients do not receive the care they need—not because it’s unavailable, but because systems and priorities are misaligned.
Participants review the reasons why EECC is not already in place
Participants explored the reasons behind this gap: structural inequities, siloed healthcare systems, and a lack of attention to severity over diagnosis. EECC offers a horizontal solution—one that cuts across departments and specialties to prioritise the sickest patients first.
A particularly engaging session helped attendees prepare "elevator pitches"—short, compelling messages they could use to explain and advocate for EECC to funders, hospital directors, or policymakers.
Day 3: From Learning to Leading
The final day of the workshop was all about action. Participants learned how EECC has already been implemented in countries like Malawi, Ethiopia, and Sweden, and discussed how those lessons could be adapted to their own settings.
Alhagie m.m Baldeh talks about implementing EECC in the Gambia
Through the “EECC Theory of Change,” participants explored how a range of inputs, combined with strategic focus on advocacy, research, policy and community engagement, can lead to system-wide change.
The most powerful moment came as each participant crafted their own EECC Action Plan—a tailored roadmap for what they would do next, whether in their hospital, their health system, or on the global stage.
By the end of the workshop, each attendee had become an EECC Champion: someone equipped not just with knowledge, but with the motivation and support to make change happen.
Looking Ahead
The Champions Workshop in Dar es Salaam was more than a training event—it was a movement in motion. It demonstrated that change is possible when healthcare professionals are empowered with the right tools, knowledge, and community.
EECC Global is proud to support this growing network of champions, united in their mission to ensure that every critically ill patient receives the care they need to survive and recover.
As these champions return to their workplaces, they carry with them a shared vision: simple, effective care for the sickest patients—no matter who they are or where they live.
EECC Champions in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
The New EECC Champions
Zainub Jooma - South Africa
Fitsum Kifle Belachew - Ethiopia
Jonna Idh - Sweden
Shidah Kanyika - Malawi
Gilles Eloi Rwibuka - Burundi
Alhagie m.m Baldeh - Gambia
Isse Bashir Mohamed - Somalia
Raphael Kazidule Kayambankadzanja - Malawi
Sabra Hussein - POETIC - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Isaac Maro - POETIC - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Abbas Kiwae - POETIC - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Atala Abdallah Jongo - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Pendo Saron POETIC - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Uswege Simbeye - Songwe, Tanzania
Naima Yusuf Zakaria - Tanga, Tanzania
Ronald Paris Lyimo - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Nyangoso Machage - Kigoma, Tanzania
Staphord Sylvanus Mpaye - Katavi, Tanzania
Bertha Kileo - Songwe, Tanzania
Christa Nzali - Mtwara, Tanzania
Asha Ussi - Zanzibar, Tanzania
Sostenes Janka Muhapa - Singida, Tanzania
Mugisha Nkoronko - Dodoma, Tanzania
Dominic Joseph Kwayo - Morogoro, Tanzania
Zainab Karim - Muhimbili, Tanzania
Alina Alnoor Giga - UNICEF - Zanzibar, Tanzania
Anase Minja - UNICEF - Kigoma, Tanzania
Agripa Elirehema - UNICEF - Songwe, Tanzania
Frank Eetaama - UNICEF - Mtwara, Tanzania